In just a few short days it will be my favorite week of the year, National School Counseling Week! No, not School Counselor Week, but School Counseling Week. This is not a week for appreciating your school counselor although, who doesn't love to be appreciated?! This week is about advocating for the profession. So let's talk about the importance of advocacy and its far reaching impact!
In my career I've had 9 principals and 14 assistant principals. Four of those assistant principals have gone on to be principals, one became a curriculum superintendent, and one even became a school superintendent! I like to think the example I set in creating and implementing my school counseling program influenced the way they have led their districts, their schools, and utilized the school counselors who came after me. I like to think the no substitute, no master schedule responsibilities, no lunch duty, a counselor specific evaluation, and the freedom to counsel students are in some way related to our experiences together, examples I set, presentations I gave and conversations I had with those administrators over time. Each of those twenty-three individual administrators I worked with have provided me with unique opportunities to share the purpose and benefit of the profession and to influence their thoughts and ideas about school counseling! Like a pebble dropped on the surface of a pond, the ripples created by the impact of that pebble keep moving outward. So, when each of these administrators moved to their next school and their next school counselor, I like to think I helped create a ripple effect of greater understanding of the profession that will continue to be beneficial for all the school counselors they will work with in the future. Be the pebble!
So even though you may be in a less than ideal situation with an administration that has no idea what school counselors really do, think about how you can begin to create a ripple. What can you do in your situation, no matter how small, to begin to educated and advocate for the profession with your administration? What can you do to change their perception on who school counselors are and what they do? How can you use National School Counseling Week to highlight what school counselors are really all about? Do you have a brochure, a website, data reports, or a presentation for faculty and staff? Have you collected and shared your data or done the ASCA annual administrative conference with your administrators? People don't know what they don't know, and most administrators don't know school counselors. They base their ideas of school counselors on their personal experiences from when they were a student. And some of our "Guidance Counselors" from the past did not leave such a good impression. So, unless your administrator had the good fortune to know a true school counselor when they were in school, most are working from an outdated model of "guidance counselors." National School Counseling Week is the perfect time to challenge that old stereo-type!
So Carpe Diem! Seize the day, or in this case the week, of this golden opportunity to ignite an awareness where there may have been none. Create a ripple effect that will keep moving into the future with your principal when they move to their next position. Through our advocacy we are educating our administrators and spreading our impact to other schools and to the benefit of the school counselors who will serve with them after us.
Materials for NSCW 2021
This year the American School Counselor Association has provided more than the usual free signs, daily announcements, proclamations, and certificates. They are also offering daily webinars with topics relevant to school counselors. Check it all out here.
In the past, I have posted cute things you can make for your staff and students if your time and budget allow. Check out these links below or go to my Resources page for links to NSCW freebies.
Counselor Challenge Home
Counselor Challenge School
NSCW Bookmarks
NSCW 2021 PDF of candy card templates and poems
Celebrate yourself!
So try not to be upset when there is no counselor recognition. It's okay. Remember, the purpose is to keep the focus on our profession and educate our administration, staff, students, parents and school board members what school counseling is really all about! And if you want to celebrate yourself or a school counselor friend, order take-out, actually take your lunch break, share some words of encouragement with another counselor, and celebrate each other and all the terrific things we do!
Happy National School Counseling Week!
